


Hindsight

by Brennah_K



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-19
Updated: 2011-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brennah_K/pseuds/Brennah_K
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hindsight is twenty-twenty, or so they say, but the view Sirius gets from beyond the veil is even clearer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hindsight

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-Posted at FF.net

Moaning as he turned away from the veil, unable to watch any longer as Harry left the shrieking shack, Sirius barely choked back the pain and horror in his voice as he met James and Lily's eyes.

"Merlin," he gasped, "He never had a chance, did he?"

James's troubled gaze broke from his as his friend turned away, shaking his head negatively, even as Lily murmured, "Yes."

"Not unless there's something you haven't shown me," Sirius protests, "and I can't believe there is, he's never had a chance… not a real chance. You can't call that a childhood, and now…"

"You can go back." She stated simply.

"What? No. Harry's going to…"

"Yes. Harry is going to face Riddle… and die, but James and I will be there for him. He won't be alone. You can go back and give him the chance to have a real childhood. A real life."

Sirius hesitated for a brief moment, but then thought back on the sight of a frail child in tatty clothes, sitting in the shadows at the border of a child's park, watching the other children play with the certain knowledge that wouldn't be welcome. As he remembered the child's dull, exhausted gaze, a longing to help the boy swept through him, and before he could ask what he would need to do, Sirius felt himself dissolving from their presence.

After a disorienting moment, as he felt himself displacing the air around him when he dissolved back into existence (if dissolving into a solid form was even possible – no matter that that's what it felt like), Sirius swayed a moment before opening his eyes – to find his hand already lifted to knock on a very familiar door: a door which chose that exact moment to jerk open.

"And what the bloody hell do you want?" A brutish muggle with heavy brows and midnight black hair demanded as he thrust his face into Sirius's, in a clumsy attempt at intimidation.

"This for starters." Sirius retorted as he cocked back his fist and struck Tobias Snape with a blow that threw him several feet backwards into a dingy sitting room.

Walking past the sputtering man, Sirius came far enough into the room to see a worn and distraught woman standing in the far corner, the almost translucent pale hands of the child hidden behind her clutching her wrist.

Muttering a quick levicorpus to throw the brutal muggle's body out into the gutter where it belonged, Sirius slammed the door shut behind it and set a quick, but strong, ward around the house. When he was finished, Sirius turned to the frightened and mistrustful witch standing in front of him.

"Ms. Snape, I…"

"Don't you hurt my mum!" The child cried as he found enough nerve to dart around his mother's leg and in front of her.

"Here now," Sirius took a step forward before dropping to one knee, so he could meet the child's eyes. "Here now. I don't mean to hurt your mom or you."

"You … you don't?" The dark haired child asked, staring at him with intense, mistrusting, dark eyes.

"I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot, but I would like to make things better and start over. Can we do that?"

"Er…I…Myfathersays-no-one-gets-a-do-over!" The child answered with a quick nervous glance at the door that his father had been ejected from.

"Well, I think you're father's wrong… about a great many things, and I think we can have a do over if we want one. So I'm going to start over. Hello, my name is Sirius Black. May I ask your name?"

Even though he was still staring mistrustfully at Sirius, the child answered in a timid voice, "Severus Snape, Sir."

Offering his hand, Sirius tried to keep an encouraging smile on his lips even when Severus flinched from his gesture. Keeping the smile in place became much more difficult when he noticed that Severus, who looked barely seven, was sporting a bloody lip and a variety of fresh and fading bruises on his cheek and temple.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Severus. What say we get a few of these bruises healed up and then sit down with a cup of tea."


End file.
